Page 66 of How to Write a Rom-Com

If she only knew the half of it.

“He was great. But this character is quite different. He’s a complete alpha hero who turns out to be a cinnamon roll. Liam, er, the neighbor guy, well,” I sigh, “he was a cinnamon roll through and through.” I try to push the thought of him from my mind.

I look down at the time on my phone, and a reminder for our call with Ruby flashes on the screen. Anne follows my gaze, and our eyes meet a moment later.

“Ready for this?” she asks, pride in her voice.

“As I’ll ever be,” I murmur. Part of me can’t believe I’m about to do this. I am about to tell a bestselling author, a professional, what she should write. All the hard work, the writing, the hours spent speaking into my computer, and all my work over the past three years, it’s all led to this moment.

“Lucy,” Anne starts, jolting me from my thoughts. I turn my attention to her, the anxious voice still mumbling in the back of my mind. “No matter what Ruby says here, I want you to know, I took the liberty of ordering you some new business cards,” she says with a sly smile.

Something between a laugh and a “ha!” comes out of my mouth. “Does that mean what I think it means? Because I don’t actually have business cards now…”

“You don’t have business cards?” she asks, raising a brow.

“You told me assistants don’t need business cards,” I gently remind her.

“That does sound like me,” she says sarcastically. “Well, you’ll have them now.”

“Anne, thank you. I really appreciate it,” I say, less enthusiastically than either of us expected.

I should be elated in this moment. And part of me is—truly. Even if Elle and Josie or even Liam don’t believe it, I do love this job. And I’m proud of myself for making it to this point. I did it. I got the promotion.

“What is it?” Anne asks, giving me a curious look. I’m not sure I want to tell her exactly what’s going through my mind. I think she can tell that something is off, but I’m not sure she will understand. How do you explain to someone that you’re unhappy when your dreams come true, because it’s not actually your dream anymore?

“It’s just a lot to take in,” I say, trying to recompose myself. “And we still have to talk to Ruby. I’m a little overwhelmed,” I admit.

“I can handle Ruby,” Anne says. She reaches over and gives my shoulder a light squeeze. “You’ve earned this, no matter what happens today.”

I finally let myself smile, but it’s reserved.

My hand shakes as I dial Ruby’s number on the conference phone in the middle of the table.

“Hello Ruby, how’s it going?” Anne starts, putting on her friendly editor voice.

“It’s going,” Ruby replies. Every time I speak to Ruby—which isn’t that often—she always strikes me as burnt out. She didn’t get into writing until later in life, and now I think she is pushing eighty. Maybe she’s tired of the business? I honestly don’t know what her reasoning is for being so grumpy all the time. But everyone has their own issues, I suppose. You never know what someone is going through.

“So, what did your lackey come up with?”

Um, feeling a little less understanding now.

“Lucy, I can assure you, has gone above and beyond the call of duty here.”

I take a deep breath, feeling assured that Anne has my back. Ruby isn’t Anne’s favorite person, and while she may be a bestselling author and essential to our company, Anne won’t let her bully me. I’m confident in that.

“It’s all you,” Anne says with an encouraging nod. I press my lips in a line and try to smile back at her.

I relay the basic story elements to Ruby: the main character is a film writer who goes to a small town to research for a new movie. While there, she falls for a historian, but feels conflicted about her feelings for him. She struggles to balance her morals, her desire to impress her boss, and an impending deadline. I elaborate on a few of the side characters, and briefly go over the plot structure as I see it unfolding. Anne and Ruby remain silent, almost ambivalent, and by the end, my mouth is incredibly dry. While I may not feel proud of how I obtained this work, I am proud of the story I came up with. I worked my ass off in Hudson Hollow, and from the look on Anne's face, I’d say she agrees.

“What do you think, Ruby?” Anne asks after a few moments.

“I—” she starts, and then sighs. Well, that’s not a good sign. I crease my eyebrows at Anne.

“Ruby?” Anne prompts.

“I just don’t see what is so special about it,” Ruby finally says.

Okay,rude.

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